ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Prime Minister's Office
Prime Minister congratulates H.E, Dr. Hun Manet on assuming charge as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi congratulated H.E, Dr. Hun Manet on assuming charge as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
In a X post, the Prime Minister said
“Congratulations H.E. @Dr_Hunmanet_PM on assuming charge as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia. I look forward to working closely with you for further elevating our friendly historical ties. @peacepalace_kh”
Ministry of Finance
Workshop on Private Investment in Manufacturing, Housing and Real Estate, and Services in the run-up to the 2nd Conference of Chief Secretaries
The in person workshop on Track 2 – Private Investment in Manufacturing, Housing and Real Estate, and Services of Sub-Theme 2 – Infrastructure & Investments under Pillar 1 – Growth and Job Creation, in the run-up to the 2nd Conference of Chief Secretaries, was organised by the track-lead State of Assam and the Central Nodal Department i.e., the Department of Economic Affairs, GoI, and witnessed participation from 19 State Governments & Union Territories, on 1st December 2022 at IIT Guwahati, Assam. The workshop saw participation from over 50 senior officials from the State Governments and Union Territories and also representatives from industry and academia.
The workshop was inaugurated by Sh. Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and Sh. Paban Kumar Borthakur, Chief Secretary, Government of Assam. They suggested to utilise this opportunity to enable a centre-state and inter-state discussion on ideas, potential solutions and exchange of learnings and best practices. They also emphasized on the need to bring forth practical recommendations that are of utmost relevance to the State/UTs and aligned to the theme for this year’s CS conference - ‘Viksit Bharat – Reaching the Last Mile’.
In his context setting address, Sh. Samir Sinha, Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Government of Assam, apprised on the background and steps leading to todays in-person workshop, such as preparation of concept notes, background paper and video conference meeting held earlier this month and provided a consolidated picture of the Track 2 challenges and their probable solutions.
During the workshop, presentations were made by representatives from industry and academia and State Governments & Union Territories followed by an open house discussion on major implementation models, ideas and experiences across projects, schemes and the way forward.
Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation
Economic Survey 2019, a direction for India to march towards a 5 trillion-dollar economy, says Chief Statistician of India and Secretary, MoSPI
Lauds the Economic Survey for addressing the issues of unshackling the MSME to increase productivity and create more jobs
Chief Statistician of India and Secretary, MoSPI, Pravin Srivastava has welcomed the Economic Survey 2019 for its emphasis on various sectors of economy and to provide a direction to overcome the constraints as India marches towards a 5 trillion-dollar economy. He said that the Survey has given various strategies on boosting investment to fuel the virtuous cycle of economic growth, improved productivity, boosting consumption and channelizing savings into investment.
The Chief Statistician to the government of India added that Economic Survey has also compared the economic fundamentals of other growing economies and proposed a strategy for achieving economic equilibrium in a holistic manner. It also addresses the critical issue of harnessing the demographic dividend towards a more productive workforce. It has looked at the success of key Government programs like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Swachh Bharat Mission, etc. and how deepening these porgrams will improve the health outcomes in years to come.
The Secretary Ministry of Statistic and Program Implementation lauded Economic Survey for addressing the issues of unshackling the MSME sector through investment and labour reforms to increase productivity and create more jobs for labour force. It has rightly recognized that the economy can grow through empowerment of people using data for decision making and recognized that data is a public good, for which MoSPI is already taking major steps. He said that the Chief Economic Advisor and his team have done a great job by providing a refreshing strategy for the economy.
Special Service and Features
CRPF Cycle Rally reaches Madurai
Central Reserve Police Force’s Cycle Rally that commenced on August 22nd from Kanyakumari, reached Keelakuyilkudi town of Madurai district today morning. District collector Shri AneeshSekhar and Madurai SP  Shri Bhaskaran presided over the function which was organised to felicitate the captain and his team.
Students of KMR International School performed yoga, silambattam and dance. As part of RakshaBandhan celebrations, teachers of the school tied Rakhi to the cycling team and officers. Further, various tamil folk performances including karagattam, silambattam, oyilattam, kattakkal were showcased by the local folk artists.
The cycling team was presented with books on Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple and the culture of Madurai by the district police officers. The rotary clubs of Madurai also felicitated them with grand mementos.
The team which left Madurai at 8:30 a.m., reached Dindigal around noon. District SP Shri. Srinivasan, accompanied the team on cycle from the National Highways. Ex CAPF and Ex military personnel, local folk artists, public and members of various associations participated in the felicitation ceremony.
The cycle rally titled ‘Kanyakumari to Rajghat’ will culminate at New Delhi’s Raj Ghat on 2nd October 2021, covering a total distance of 2850 km. The rally will traverse the states of Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
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Ministry of Defence
Mission Sagar - II
Handing over Food Aid to Sudan by INS Airavat
As part of ‘Mission Sagar-II’, Indian Naval Ship Airavat entered Port Sudan on 02 November 2020. The Government of India is providing assistance to Friendly Foreign Countries to overcome natural calamities and COVID-19 pandemic, and towards the same INS Airavat is carrying a consignment of 100 Tonnes of food aid for the people of Sudan.
Mission Sagar-II, follows the first ‘Mission Sagar’ undertaken in May-June 2020, wherein India reached out to Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros, and provided food aid and medicines. As part of Mission Sagar-II, Indian Naval Ship Airavat will deliver food aid to Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea.
Mission Sagar-II, is in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region ‘SAGAR’ and highlights the importance accorded by India to relations with her maritime neighbours and further strengthens the existing bond. The Indian Navy is progressing this mission in close coordination with the Ministries of Defence and External Affairs, and other agencies of the Government of India.
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Ministry of Commerce & Industry
WTO Ruling against India
A Dispute Settlement Panel of WTO in its report issued to members on 31 October 2019 has ruled India’s export promotion schemes  to be export contingent and in the nature of prohibited subsidies under the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and thus inconsistent with WTO norms. The Panel has given time-frame of 90-180 days for withdrawal of these schemes. However, India has appealed the Panel Report on 19 November, 2019 and due to non-functioning of Appellate Body, the appeal has been kept in suspension. Till the appeal is disposed of, India is under no obligation to implement the recommendations of Panel.
Though US has claimed that India is providing subsidies on above mentioned schemes, India has taken the stand in dispute that the subsidies are not export contingent and thus consistent with WTO norms. India has filed appeal against the Panel ruling.
This information was given by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
JNPT records over 21% growth in cargo handling during July
JNPT hospital marks a new milestone, administers over 10,000 Covid-19 vaccine jabs
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust - JNPT, one of the premier container handling ports, recorded 433,533TEUs  in July 2021, a growth of 21.15% as compared to344,316 TEUs during the same period last year. The container traffic handled at JNPT during the first 4 months of FY 2021-22 was 1,797,838 TEUs, which is 50.80% higher than the container traffic of 1,192,165 TEUsover the same period of last year.
In terms of rail operations, JNPT handled 77,662 TEUS of ICD traffic from 503 rakes in July 2021, and the Rail-Coefficient was 17.91%. To enhance the model shift from road to rail, JNPT is undertaking a host of initiatives like the commencement of rail service between JNPT and Balli  on the Konkan Railway, and other initiatives like ITRHO has helped to maximize train placement, track productivity, efficiency, cost-effective handling, reduce dwell time of import ICD boxes, connecting export ICD boxes to respective terminals in time and also increase rail quotient at JNPT.
Commenting on this performance, JNPTChairmanShri Sanjay Sethisaid, along with stakeholders, the Port Trustcontinues to play an important part of the supply chain. Ithas also commenced trial operations at the newly constructed Coastal Berth, which will provide an impetus for coastal cargo movement and provide better infrastructure for coastal shipping and decongest rail and road networks, ensuring cost-competitive and effective multi-modal transportation solutions. He said, a letter of intenthas also been handed overto successful bidders of 9 plots in JNPT SEZ to boost port-led industrialization. Shri Sethi said, the Port Trusthas been relentlessly handling the evacuation and procurement of Medical Grade Oxygen and other Medical accessories and supply during the month.
He added that as a socially conscious organization committed to stakeholders, employees and local community, the JNPT hospital has administered over 10,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine jabs. The immunization drive is being conducted not only for the JNPT staff but also for facilitating the local communities living in and around the port area.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust  at Navi Mumbai is one of the premier container handling ports in India. Commissioned on 26th May 1989, in less than three decades of its operations, JNPT has transformed from a bulk-cargo terminal to become the premier container port in the country.
Currently JNPT operates five container terminals: The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Container Terminal , the Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal , the Gateway Terminals India Pvt. Ltd. , Nhava Sheva International Gateway Terminal  and the newly commissioned Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals Private Limited . The Port also has a Shallow Water Berth for general cargo and another Liquid Cargo Terminal which is managed by BPCL-IOCL consortium and newly constructed coastal berth.
Ministry of Defence
‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’: MoD accords high priority to indigenisation of Software Defined Radios for the Armed Forces
Ministry of Defence  has fast-tracked the indigenisation of Software Defined Radios  with country’s premier R&D institutions viz. Defence Research and Development Organisation  and Indian Institute of Technology  Kanpur to fulfill the increasing demand by the Armed Forces across a broad spectrum of operations. The complete product life cycle management framework is necessary for security sensitive SDR technology and products. It involves indigenous self-sustainable design, development, manufacturing, testing/certification and maintenance ecosystem. Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar, while according high priority to the indigenisation of SDR technology, stated that it will be an important milestone towards achieving the goals of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ in the field of secured radio communication.
Two key elements of indigenous SDR technology are the standardised operating software environment  and applications  with associated waveforms repository and test/certification facility. Standard OE enables waveform portability and interoperability among SDRs of multiple vendors. Towards this, the Ministry of Defence has taken a decision to define and develop reference implementation of India specific operating environment called India Software Communication Architecture  profile or Indian Radio Software Architecture.
Director, IIT Kanpur Dr Abhay Karandikar, who is the Chairman of SCA Committee constituted by MoD, has pioneered the idea of having ‘India SCA Profile’. A Draft Project Report  has been formulated by DEAL/DRDO towards indigenous development of SDR with a roadmap and timelines.
The Directorate of Standardisation  in the Department of Defence Production, MoD will steer the development of IRSA with DRDO, academia and industry with definition in three to six months and additional 18 months for associated reference implementation, testing and compliance certification tools.
Availability of IRSA through access control will enable the Indian software vendors to integrate and make SDRs interoperable and security gradable. The IRSA will be notified by DoS and shared with the industry towards development of indigenous SDR for use by Indian defence/security forces and export to friendly foreign nations.
The three institutions involved in the development namely, DEAL/DRDO, IIT-Kanpur and DoS have already started the work as per DPR. Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar exuded confidence on all organisations and said that it will create a new benchmark towards indigenisation of critical equipment which, so far, has been imported. This would give a boost to the endeavour to achieve ‘Aatmanirbharta’, reduce import budget and create secured radio network for the Armed Forces. He added that the efforts will be made to complete it in a time-bound manner.
Ministry of Culture
Financial Assistance Schemes for Promotion of Arts and Culture
The Scheme for Financial Assistance for Promotion of Art and Culture consists of 05 scheme components namely  Repertory Grant;  Financial Assistance to Cultural Organizations with National Presence;  Cultural Function & Production Grant;  Financial Assistance for Preservation and Development of Cultural Heritage of the Himalayas; and  Financial Assistance for Development of Buddhist/Tibetan Arts and Culture.
1. Scheme of Financial Assistance for Promotion of Art and Culture: The scheme consists of five components. The objective of 05 scheme component is as given below: -
- Repertory Grant
The objective of Repertory Grant Scheme Component is to provide financial support for all genres of performing arts activities like dramatic groups, theatre groups, music ensembles, children theatre etc. and imparting training of artists by their respective Guru on regular basis in line with Guru–Shishya Parampara. As per the scheme, support is provided to 1 Guru and maximum 18 Shishyas  and 01 Guru and 10 Shishyas .
Amount of Assistance – Guru Rs.10000/- p.m., Shishya – Rs.1000-6000/-p.m.
- Cultural organizations with National Presence
The objective of this scheme component is to provide support for cultural activities at Large scale National / International level. The Quantum of assistance under this scheme is up to Rs. 5 Cr.
- Cultural Function & Production Grant 
The objective of this scheme component is to provide financial support to NGOs/ Societies/ Trusts/ Universities etc. for Seminars, Conference, Research, Workshops, Festivals, Exhibitions, Symposia, Production of Dance, Drama-Theatre, Music etc. The maximum grants provided under CFPG is Rs.5 Lakh 
- Financial Assistance for the Preservation & Development of Cultural Heritage of the Himalayas
The objective of this scheme component is to promote and preserve the cultural heritage of the Himalayas through research, training and dissemination through audio visual programmes. The financial support is provided to the organizations in the States falling under the Himalayan Region i.e. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. The quantum of funding is Rs. 10.00 lakhs per year for an organization which can be increased to Rs. 30.00 lakhs in exceptional cases.
- Financial Assistance for the Preservation & Development of Buddhist/Tibetan Organization
Under this scheme component financial assistance is provided to the voluntary Buddhist/Tibetan organizations including Monasteries engaged in the propagation and scientific development of Buddhist/Tibetan Cultural and tradition and research in related fields. The quantum of funding under scheme component is Rs. 30.00 lakhs per year for an organization which can be increased to 1.00 crore in exceptional cases.
This information was given by the Minister of State  of Culture and Tourism, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
NB/SK
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Prime Minister's Office
PM to flag off Goa’s first Vande Bharat Express on 3rd June
This will be 19th Vande Bharat train in the country
Vande Bharat will cover journey between Mumbai and Goa in approximately seven and half hours; saving about one hour of journey time as compared to the current fastest train in the route
Train to provide world class experience to passengers and provide boost to tourism
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will flag off Goa’s first Vande Bharat Express from Madgaon railway station, on 3rd June at 10:30 AM via video conferencing.
Realising Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Make in India’ and Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the state-of-the-art Vande Bharat Express will improve the connectivity in the Mumbai - Goa route and provide the people of the region the means to travel with speed and comfort. The train will be the 19th Vande Bharat train to run in the country.
The train will run between Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Goa’s Madgaon station. It will cover the journey in approximately seven and half hours which will help save about one hour of journey time, when compared with the current fastest train connecting the two places.
The indigenously made train, equipped with world class amenities and advanced safety features including KAVACH technology, will also boost tourism in both states.
Ministry of Defence
New Armament Production Units
In the last five years, a total of 194 Industrial Licenses have been issued to private companies in Defence sector for manufacturing of items like ammunitions, artillery guns, howitzers, air defence guns, UAVs, destroyers, frigates, night vision devices, ballistic protection items, radars, opto-electronic devices etc. License to manufacture defence equipment is granted by the licensing authorities namely, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade  and Ministry of Home Affairs under Industries  Act and Arms Act respectively, in consultation with Ministry of Defence. Further, to provide autonomy and enhance efficiency and unleash new growth potential in the Ordnance Factories, the Government has corporatized OFB and converted it into seven  new Defence Public Sector Undertakings . All new Defence PSUs have become operational from 1stOctober 2021. The Government has decided to grandfather the indents/orders, worth more than Rs62,000 crore, pending with the OFB post corporatisation, to ensure continuity in supply of strategic arms and ammunitions to the services.
Moreover, two positive indigenization lists for total 209 items have also been notified by the Government with an embargo on the import beyond the timeline indicated against each of them. There has been a decline in percentage of capital expenditure on procurement of defence equipment from foreign vendors from 48% in 2018-19 to 36% in 2020-21.
This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Ajay Bhatt in a written reply to Ms Saroj Pandey in Rajya Sabha today.
Nampi/Savvy
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Prime Minister's Office
PM condoles passing away of former DRDO Director General Dr. V.S. Arunachalam
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has expressed deep grief on the passing away of former DRDO Director General Dr. V.S. Arunachalam.
The Prime Minister posted on X;
“Dr. V.S. Arunachalam’s passing away leaves a major void in scientific community and the strategic world. He was greatly admired for his knowledge, passion for research and rich contribution towards strengthening India’s security capabilities. Condolences to his family and well wishers. Om Shanti.”
Ministry of Education
Over 1.36 crore school students from across the country participate in Veer Gatha Project 3.0
More than1.36 crore school students from all 36 States and UTs participated enthusiastically in the 3rd edition of the Veer Gatha Project. The students sent poems, paintings, essays, videos, etc. to honour the acts of bravery and sacrifice of the officers/personnel of the Armed Forces.
Project Veer Gatha was instituted under Gallantry Awards Portal  in 2021 with the aim to disseminate the details of acts of bravery of the Gallantry Awardees and the life stories of these brave hearts among the students so as to raise the spirit of patriotism and instill amongst them values of civic consciousness. Project Veer Gatha deepened this noble aim by providing a platform to the school students to do creative projects/activities based on gallantry award winners.
Two editions of the Veer Gatha Project  have been conducted in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Under the Veer Gatha Project 3.0, following activities have been conducted till date:
Activities at the School Level: Schools have conducted various projects/activities  and have uploaded a total of 04 best entries from each school, on the MyGov portal.
Simultaneously, to bring about awareness among school students about the Gallantry Award Winners of our country, the Ministry of Defence, through its field organisations or Army/Navy/Airforce, has organized virtual/ face-to-face awareness programmes/sessions for schools across the country.
More than 8 Lakh students participated in the Veer Gatha Project  and more than 19 Lakh students participated in Veer Gatha Project .
During the Veer Gatha Project  and , 25 winners  were selected and their felicitation was done by the Ministry of Education & Ministry of Defence in New Delhi. However, in the Veer Gatha Project , 100 winners  will be selected at the National Level and their felicitation will be done jointly by the Ministry of Education & Ministry of Defence in New Delhi. Each winner will be awarded a cash prize of Rs.10,000.
This year, in Veer Gatha Project 3.0, there will be winners at District  & State / UT  and all such winners will be felicitated by respective District & State / UT.
Ministry of Power
PFC signs agreement with IIT- Kanpur for Training, Research, and Entrepreneurship Development in Smart Grid Technology
Power Finance Corporation , a PSU under Ministry of Power and country’s leading NBFC, signed a MoA with Indian Institute of Technology- Kanpur  for Training, Research, and Entrepreneurship Development in Smart Grid Technology. Under the MoA, PFC will provide financial assistance of Rs. 2,38,97,000/-  to IIT-K under its CSR initiative.
Shri. R. Murahari, Executive Director , PFC informed that the objective of the pact is to provide support to IIT-K in developing infrastructure for research and development on smart grid technology. As part of project, IIT-K will also provide training on smart grid technology to 90 participants and provide fellowship to 9 selected candidates for development of ideas on Smart Grid Technology. The fellows will be assisted by Start-up Innovation and Incubation Centre  of IIT-K and encouraged to take up entrepreneurial activities.
Shri M Prabhakar Das, Chief General Manager , PFC and Prof. Jayant Kumar Singh, Dean Resource and Alumni, IIT-K signed the agreement on behalf of respective organizations on a virtual platform.